St John tells us: ‘Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home’.

The title of today’s Memoria refers in the first instance to her suffering as she stood faithfully by the Cross of her Son; but it is not limited to that event. It also encompasses the presentation in the Temple, the flight into Egypt, the losing and finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, the meeting of Mother and Son on the Via Dolorosa, the taking down of Jesus’ body from the Cross, and His burial in the tomb.

As we enter today into Mary’s sorrows, we know with certainty that all our own sorrows are gathered up and lovingly held by the Mother of the Lord. May she and her Son be specially close to you this day.